Rachel Bilson is a moderately successful actress.
Emma Watson plays a key role in one of the biggest movie franchises in history, while also attending Brown.
Miley Cyrus is a floundering singer with an unpopular CD.
But while these young stars might not have anything obvious in common, they do share taste in the latest fashion trend: cut-off jean shorts and white button-down blouses. All three have rocked the look this summer and it's up to you to decide who did it best:
The term "hot mess" was coined with Britney Spears in mind.
Okay, that's a lie, but it might as well be true. Just look at this girl! Exceeding her own lofty fashion standards, Brit went to Crate & Barrel in Sherman Oaks, Calif., yesterday and man. She's having some major extension woes these days.
You'd think with approximately $700,000 a month in earnings, one could pull herself together a little more. Then again, at least she's not going crazy ... we think. Plus, she wore a bra for once, so it wasn't all bad on the style front. Small victories!
Click to enlarge some classic Britney Spears pics below ...
We could spend days questioning this classification - but, instead, we'll simply accept it and pass along a number of tips Kim recently offered in the pages of InStyle. Follow along if you wish to look your best...
Find a Great Tailor
"Anything you wear should be proportioned to your body, and a good tailor will make sure everything fits perfectly. I either have my tailor at every fitting or I have my stylist pin my wardrobe and take it to the tailor before I wear anything. Shortening a hem line on a dress can make a huge difference!"
Accentuate the Waist
"Show off that tiny waist! Adding a belt makes your outfit look more polished. I have great belts from Phillip Lim and Alaia. Vintage belts are one of a kind and can be affordable too."
Avoid Baggy Clothing
"I know they are comfortable and they look amazing on Nicole Richie but flowy tops and dresses are not flattering on a curvy figure. They can make you look pregnant and they look sloppy in photos. Try wearing a maxidress instead. A.L.C, Torn by Ronny Kobo and T Bags make some great ones."
Embrace Shapewear
"Every woman from a size 0-14 should own Spanx! I love Shapewear by Body Wrap; they have a firm control long leg panty that makes my body look smoother and slimmer under fitted dresses without leaving any lines."
Love Those Curves!
"Being confident and owning your body is sexy. I love to show off my curves and designers like Thatcher, Antonio Berardi, Preen, Altuzarra, Markus Lupfer and Brian Lichtenberg make amazing dresses that fit my body perfectly."
Jersey Shore, the second season of which premieres tonight on MTV, is a phenomenon. Not a good show, necessarily, but a phenomenon just the same.
From a small beach house in New Jersey, the self-professed guidos have inspired spray tans, blowouts and ab-tastic bodies across the U.S. and beyond.
What was a regional style - term used very loosely - has gone global thanks to Jersey Shore, which earned 4.8 million viewers for its first season finale.
It goes beyond fashion, too.
On top of clothing lines, cast members have penned book deals, filmed workout videos, inspired iPhone apps and command big bucks for appearances.
Not since Miley Cyrus and Hannah Montana have a TV show and its star been marketed so insatiably. Only this is a GTL-loving band of hedonists.
Fashion icons The Situation, left, and J-Woww.
For whatever reason, there's a whole community that really identifies with the show so much that they see themselves in the larger-than-life stars.
Jersey Shore products ranging from iPod Touch apps letting you "Jersefy" your machine to iTunes' "Spread Snooki" iPhone photo app exemplify this.
For a tan like Snooki, you can purchase a lotion called Sunlove, for which Snooki is a spokesperson. Or you can sample JWoww's Filthy clothing line.
For guys, Mike "The Situation"
The most entrepreneurial member of the cast, The Situation also has a self-help guidebook for "guidos" in the works, not to mention a workout DVD.
Are their 15 minutes almost up? Don't count on it. The cast just signed big contract extensions for Season 3 and added a new star, Deena Nicole.
Being the hot chick in a movie full of big guys, Jess has to stand out on the red carpet—but did she really need to go so far as to wear a banana suit to get noticed?
What do you think of Jessica's not so mellow on the yellow getup? Write your most clever caption below and we'll post our fave here and
Tanned skin lends itself to brighter make-up, especially in a warm climate, and if you choose to concentrate that colour on your lips there are some knockout brights to pick this season. Max Factor Max Effect lip glosses come in so many glorious colours – from Sweet Red and Orange Smack to Diva Pink and Pink Impetuous – that they create an instant summer lip colour wardrobe. £4.99, Boots.
THE SCENT Jo Malone Rose Water & Vanilla Cologne Intense
From a collection of four new fragrances created by the perfumer Christine Nagel for real fragrance connoisseurs. Nagel was inspired by Middle Eastern scents, and this is a modern version of traditional Arabian rose mokhalat – a woody-rose perfume oil – created with rose, vanilla, neroli and petitgrain notes. £80,
BEST BUY Guerlain Lingerie de Peau Invisible Skin-Fusion Foundation
Delicate is not a word usually used to describe men’s footwear. Chunky is more the norm, or rugged. And so when Jonny Johansson, the creative director of Acne, wore what looked like ballet pumps to the opening of his brand’s new London store the other week, all eyes were drawn to his feet. Was he about to plié?
Johansson was actually wearing shoes that were appropriate for the Mayfair location of his Dover Street store. His dress slippers were from the traditional shoemaker Tricker’s and hark back to the dandified heritage of the area, when dress slippers would have been an evening norm, worn whenever there was to be dancing, complete with their comfortable, quilted lining. “I’m not really a dressed-up guy, more of an easy guy,” he says. “I’m drawn to the mix of formal and informal, and the slippers just seemed suitable. Formal wear is very flattering for a man, but I like it when it’s more relaxed, more nonchalant.”
I have a confession: I own a pair of patent ballet pumps. They are by Dior Homme, dating back to when Hedi Slimane was at its helm. I remember seeing them on the catwalk in 2005 and being struck by their oddness, and the tricks their size played on the proportions of the outfit. I wore them with pride, until my friends saw them. They were appalled. It was like I was wearing something indecent. They have stayed in their box ever since.
To brave this look, a store like Tricker’s or Cleverley is the best bet, since it’s not a style which is coming to the high street soon. The closest version of the style can be found at American Apparel, which sells skimmer dress shoes by the US brand Hartwick, a slender, black, patent dance shoe which sits snug against the foot. It is the American Apparel style that suits this type of shoe best: skinny cuts, block bright colours and vaguely Eighties styling.
Maybe the closest most men will get to something delicate this summer will be the espadrille, the holiday staple that is now a regular sight in the city. Topman has them in cloth for £10, Asos in suede for £20. Their softness and lightness come as a relief after traditional shoes; it’s a relaxed feeling which spreads to the whole outfit. I used to have some leather espadrilles, too, which looked a bit like Johansson’s pumps. I’ve long since worn them out. Can I find a replacement pair? No.
True, long and wafty has made short and tight look out of date, and I’ll thank it for that. But the sight of the high-street hippie dress, worn actually on the high street – instead of the beach, where it belongs – has turned naff at the speed of light. So now here comes the new, elegant compromise: the midi.
That word hasn’t been written on a fashion page since circa 1970, the three-day week and the mini-midi-maxi hemline crisis that, looking back, was somehow congruent with the economic instability of the time. Before that, the historic precedent for mid-calf lengths was the Thirties – another era of brewing troubles. It would be pushing it too far to read a gloomy financial augury into the recurrence of the three-quarter-length skirt now, but somehow the midi is looking right to me again.
It was looking at pictures of Miuccia Prada’s resort show last week that did it. It’s a tiny interim collection – the season between autumn and next spring – but something about her flowered and polka-dotted silk dresses, cut to a length that lands four inches below the knee, is so compelling that
I keep going back to pore over them. What is it? Partly, it’s the way they remind me of my favourite book of photographs of stylish French society women and models at the races in the Thirties (Elegance: The Seeberger Brothers and The Birth of Fashion Photography, Chronicle Books), with their slim suits and perfectly tip-tilted hats. And partly, it’s because that air of classy restraint is so against every current trend, it feels like a radical departure. I’ll lay bets now that we’ll be seeing plenty of designers working on that graceful mid-length proportion for spring.
It put the Hollywood-event circus, where every dress is a sexed-up freebie paid for by some label or other, right back in its place. And best of all, it was the senior ladies in their fifties, sixties and upwards who outclassed everyone by far. To me, the better-known skinny fashion plates like Queen Rania of Jordan, Princess Rosario of Bulgaria and Princess Letizia of Spain looked insubstantial compared to the fabulous mother of the bride, Queen Silvia of Sweden (in dusty pink with lace sleeves) and the utterly drop-dead Infanta Elena of Spain, who appeared in an incredible embroidered matador jacket and a stately crimson duchesse satin skirt almost worthy of Cristobal Balenciaga in his heyday.
CUTE MINIATURES FOR MISS
It’s getting to the end-of-term gift-giving season when every mother has to trawl around the shops looking for small yet thoughtful presents for teachers. Well, I think I’ve cracked it this year. On the principle of killing several birds with one stone, may I suggest a swoop on mini-travel accessories? Everyone likes something cute that’s actually useful to take away for summer.
Marks & Spencer’s beauty department and Muji are two stops on the high street that will solve everything. In M&S, I found a £9.50 Haircare Styling Kit, which comes with Velcro rollers, a set of hairgrips and a teasing comb all packed into a dinky transparent pouch. In Muji were all kinds of mini-mirrors, plastic product containers and the kind of see-through zip-up bags you need to get through airport security, but never know where to find. The pièce de résistance, though, is the £6 Muji fan in this summer’s chic shade of shell-pink. Every Miss should have one.
That question alone is capable of stirring quite a debate. But should it be an issue?
It's only natural for many to wonder about the motives behind such a decision. After all, couldn't Essence have made it their business to hire a qualified African-American fashion director, one who resonates with their core readership?
On the other hand, if someone has proven her ability to excel in the position and has demonstrated a full understanding of what the magazine represents, shouldn't she receive a fair shot regardless of her skin color?
Since news broke out regarding this matter, negative reactions have consumed the Internet. Former Essence fashion editor, Michaela angela Davis, expressed the following on her Twitter page (scroll down to watch Davis speak on CNN):
It is with a heavy heavy heart I have learned that "Essence" magazine has engaged a white fashion director, this hurts, literally, spiritually.
Another media personality, Najwa Moses, reportedly had this to say:
I can think of a few qualified black women, and men too...I mean, how could such a prestigious title who is deeply rooted in its target audience let someone who is not even a part of the African diaspora detonate our image? How can a white woman dictate and decide what style and beauty is for the black woman? [Jezebel]
What if the roles were reversed, though? Would outrage of this nature be acceptable if a "mainstream" magazine decided to hire an African American or Hispanic woman to lead its fashion department?
Editor-in-Chief, Angela Burt-Murray, recently stated her case and explained why she decided to hire Placas:
Clearly, despite how far we like to think we've come as a nation, the hot-button topic of race always has the ability to set people off and illustrate just how far we haven't come. It's something I see quite a bit in my own work...
I also share their concerns and frustrations about the lack of visibility of African-American women throughout the ranks of the fashion industry, which is overwhelmingly white. I, too, want to see more of us on the mastheads of all the magazines, seated in the front rows of the shows, designing our own fashion lines, and contributing our special flavor and flyness to the world of style.
And when I set out to hire a new fashion director I certainly had no idea I would end up making this decision. I first got to know and came to respect Ellianna when she came to work with us nearly six months ago. We were conducting a search for a new director when she was hired to run the department on a freelance basis. I got to see firsthand her creativity, her vision, the positive reader response to her work, and her enthusiasm and respect for the audience and our brand. As such, I thought she'd make an excellent addition to our team. And I still do. This decision in no way diminishes my commitment to black women, our issues, our fights. I am listening and I do take the concerns to heart. [theGrio]
According to Mediabistro, Ellianna Placas will be on board just in time for the magazine's 40th anniversary September issue. Placas has also worked at 0: The Oprah Magazine, Us Weekly and Real Simple among other publications.
While the basis of the arguments against Ellianna Placas as fashion director of Essence may be understandable, perhaps it's best to give her the chance to prove herself first. Why not? She might pleasantly surprise us.
